Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I glanced nervously toward the front. “Keep your voice down. Don’t talk nonsense.”

Jiayi burst out laughing. “What are you afraid of? With rain this heavy, he can’t hear a thing.”

She reached out to tickle my waist. “You’re still hiding things from me. Do you even consider me a friend?”

I scrambled to fend off her attack and countered with a question, “Then… do you like him?”

Growing up, I had always been the shadow at home, eclipsed by my older sister and younger brother.

At school, I was the green leaf to Jiayi’s flower.

In middle school, there was a good-looking boy who was quite nice to me.

Everyone said he liked me.

For a brief time, I was quietly happy.

I only found out later that he had only approached me to get closer to Jiayi.

If Jiayi liked Shen Dongye too, I knew I would never admit my feelings.

Jiayi hugged my waist tightly and said firmly, “I don’t like his type. What’s so great about him anyway?”

My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled. I blushed and whispered a protest, “Is he not great? His grades are good, he’s good at basketball, and he sings well…”

Jiayi covered her ears. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder…”

From that day on, I developed the habit of checking the weather forecast.

I looked forward to rain every day, and I washed my hair every single morning.

Time passed quickly, and midterms arrived.

Even though I had studied hard, I only moved up ten spots in the rankings. I was still near the bottom of the class.

When I brought the ranking sheet home, Mom was busy mixing filling for dumplings.

She took a quick look while I held it out, her face full of disdain. “With these grades, the tuition I pay for you is a complete waste.”

A short while later, my older sister returned from her evening self-study session.

Mom asked about her grades. Upon learning she had only scored 130 in math, Mom’s face clouded with worry. “Zhenzhen, how about I sign you up for a prep class?”

My sister pulled a long face. “No need. I’ll do better next time.”

She went into her room, and Mom instructed me, “Keep stirring this for me. I’m going to make some milk for your sister.”

She made two glasses.

One for my sister, and one for my brother.

It was always like this. She always managed to forget that I existed too.

Jiayi ranked second in the class and fifth in the entire grade.

She was harshly scolded by Aunt Jia.

She was an only child. Since her divorce, Aunt Jia had poured all her love into her and held her to extremely high standards. Anything less than first place was considered a failure.

I used my New Year’s red envelope money to buy her a Dove chocolate bar to comfort her. “Getting first place is hard to begin with. You’re already amazing.”

Jiayi gave a bitter smile. “Linlin, sometimes I really envy you. Your parents never pressure you.”

You see.

You stand on the bridge and look at the scenery.

While the person looking at the scenery from the balcony looks at you.

You envy others, yet there are others envying you.

After the midterms, our homeroom teacher, Old Zhang, followed the usual routine of letting us choose our seats based on our rankings.

Shen Dongye was the first to pick.

He chose a spot by the window where he could see the basketball courts outside.

Jiayi was second. She winked at me and chose to be his seatmate.

Once everyone else had finished choosing, Jiayi came over to me with a beaming smile. “Li Linlin, I really like your current spot. Let’s trade.”

I was stunned.

Because of my poor grades, there had been very few options left by the time it was my turn to pick.

I was in the third-to-last row, third seat from the end.

She tugged at my backpack. “What are you dazing off for? Swap!”

Clutching a thick stack of books, I moved toward Shen Dongye inch by inch.

My heart was racing, as if I were running toward the light in my soul.

However, just as I was about to set my books down, a hand grabbed my wrist.

It was the arts representative, Li Lang.

She lived in the same residential complex as Shen Dongye and had been in the same class as him since elementary school. They were very close.

As a girl, I could tell at a single glance: she liked Shen Dongye too.

She frowned. “Li Linlin, this isn’t appropriate, is it?”

“If Zhou Jiayi gives up this seat, it should go to the person ranked third.”

She was the one who ranked third in the class.

“I want this seat.” She smiled at Shen Dongye. “Dongye, let’s be seatmates.”